The Penultimate Haven
by Ancalima
Summary: Sam reaches the west shore


Author's note: Thanks to Vonnie for her help  
  
As tradition tells: there was also a silver curtain, and then a white shore and an ever-green field for him, and after that...  
  
  
  
-" Samwise Gamgee, you are late!"  
  
Gandalf growled, pretending to be annoyed...but then his stern expression faded and he became a gentle, kind wizard with a tender smile that brightened his face.  
  
He added, "Time actually passes in a different way here, but any time is too long when you are expecting to meet an old friend...Be welcome!"  
  
- "Oh, Mr. Gandalf, I'm so glad to see you again." Sam didn't stop looking around.  
  
Gandalf smiled mischievously and winked. "Are you looking for someone, Sam?"  
  
Sam stared at Gandalf wonderingly. He didn't dare to see a sign of hope in the old wizard's words, and tried to be brave.  
  
-" Yes, Sir...I mean, is he? You know..."  
  
-" Here I am."  
  
Sam heard that clear and quite voice, as if it would have pronounced his name just two days ago. His heart jumped and couldn't have opened his eyes wider before the long-awaited sight.  
  
- "Mr. Frodo," Sam whispered.  
  
-" Mr.Gamgee, or is it Mayor Gamgee?"  
  
-" Well, Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't..." But he couldn't finish, and suddenly jumped into Frodo's arms with an astonishing strength that he didn't know he still possesed.  
  
Frodo blinked, for a brief moment it seemed he would fall backwards, but that was impossible being Sam there...his Sam, the one that would keep a promise even if it took 60 years or if it meant to leave his beloved Shire. And Frodo, remembering the last words of Gandalf in Middle Earth, allowed himself to weep all the tears he didn't spent all those years ago.  
  
When they looked at each other again, Frodo's eyes reminded Sam of one thousand different things : the cruel journey he suffered and the inocence he thought lost. Frodo was older but looked younger somehow, and then Sam knew Frodo was in peace at last...and he thought that death could come now, fearless.  
  
- "Oh Sam, we still have time!" said Frodo and laughed slightly.  
  
A blushed Sam looked at him suspiciously. "Can you? You know, read minds like the lady Galadriel?"  
  
Frodo raised an eyebrow and shot an enigmatic gaze at his former gardener.  
  
"My dear Sam, don't you know that you are like an open book?" Frodo stated in his usual soft voice and began to lead the way to a nearby hill.  
  
Sam frowned and Frodo smiled at Gandalf when the other hobbit didn't notice. Olorin, as he was called in the Undying Lands, stayed behind, just to watch the hobbits from the distance and to remind himself why those marvelous creatures were so dear to him.  
  
After some minutes wandering, Frodo broke the silence that was never uncomfortable between them.  
  
- "Sam, tell me of The Shire, of Middle Earth...of the other Fellowship members."  
  
-" Well, Mr. Frodo, Strid...King Elessar kept all his promisses, and that is now a better place to live. The Queen herself took my Elanor as a maiden, you know!" Sam cheered proudly with a shy smile on his lips." Legolas and Gimly live in the woods and mountains, I think, although they are seen in Gondor often. And Mr. Merry and Mr. Pippin, well...I cannot say they have changed that much since you last saw them...just a few more titles and white hairs."  
  
- "And your family, Sam?" Frodo hesitated.  
  
- "My Rosie left us some months ago."  
  
-" I'm sorry Sam, I..."  
  
-" Well, Mr Frodo, We couldn't have had a better time...13 children! It's done".  
  
-"Oh, they were more than what I could foretell..."  
  
Now Frodo was uneasy somehow. He stopped and turned to Sam.  
  
-"Sam, this land is blessed with a grace we can share. I have found healing here".  
  
Sam sighed at that, it was all he needed to hear, but Frodo went on.  
  
-" Even the healed wounds keep scars, but it is possible to learn to live with them...I promise you that, among all the things we left behind, it is the happy remembrances what prevail in our hearts".  
  
It seemed to Sam that Frodo's dreamy expresion turned into something he easily recognized in his master-his unquenchable sense of responsibility.  
  
- "You don't need to convince me, Mr Frodo," said Sam with teary eye but a sure smile.  
  
-" I know but you never liked sailing and I know that this has been a hard and long trip. There's no going back this time."  
  
But he, Samwise, was there to ease his fears.  
  
-"Yes, but, begging your pardon, it was the only way to get to this shore...if you take my meaning".  
  
They looked at each other without blinking for a long while, and then suddenly they broke into laughter. Words weren't needed anymore but Sam pronounced some more.  
  
-" Oh, How's Mr Bilbo? Sorry for not asking before, my old Gaffer would have had a thought about my manners."  
  
Frodo's smile faded and he sighed.  
  
-" Well, Sam, he was very old, even here. He knew that you would come soon, so the old rascal decided to leave for his last adventure just some days ago"  
  
- "Decided!" Sam stopped dead.  
  
Frodo nodded. " Even in this land, we are mortals, but with some "gifts", as you have probably noticed yourself."  
  
Then Frodo witnessed how "Sam of the quest" himself appeared: with an impossible speed, he faced Frodo and grasped his shoulders, saying, with as much inocence and resolution as the youngest soul in Valinor could show.  
  
-" Don't you dare.not without me!"  
  
-" Oh, Samwise, that journey will be for two hobbits..." Frodo paused, then he whispered into Sam's ear, "And I never go where you can't follow."  
  
Around a corner in their road, the light of the Valar shone in the sky bathing a new place to Sam´s eyes. It seemed to have its own music, a place that reminded him of Rivendell and The Shire and was totally different at the same time, if that was possible at all. Sam knew he was at home and when they were even closer, he had a feeling that had sensed only once before -when being just a wee thing, he climbed the hill with his Gaffer and saw Bag End for the first time. 


End file.
